The World Bank announces the suspension of disbursements to Gabon this country in the Central African sub-region is accused of having accumulated several months’ arrears on its debt payments. The information was made public in a written note from the World Bank’s Vice-President for West and Central Africa, which leaked onto social networks on Wednesday July 3, according to RFI. Gabon had accumulated arrears of around 16.4 million US dollars (10 billion CFA francs) up to June 30, hence the suspension.
The Gabonese Ministry of Public Accounts maintains that the Treasury has already paid these arrears. The Ministry adds that the government has inherited too heavy a liability. In ten months it has paid US$ 224 million (CFA 136 billion) in debt.
“All debt repayments to other multilateral creditors are in the process of being paid, and should be fully settled within the next few days,” says the Ministry of Public Accounts.
We have also learned that in line with the strategy adopted, the Public Accounting and Treasury Department was required to settle almost 224 million US dollars (136 billion FCFA) in market debts in June 2024 alone.
For the record, World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa Ousmane Diagana, was in Gabon at the beginning of May where he met the main leaders of the transition, including Head of State Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema. On his X account, the World Bank vice-president described the meeting as
“a fruitful encounter with HE the President of the Transition and Head of State Brice Oligui Nguema, focusing on his vision for Gabon and discussing ways in which the Bank can support the country’s priority reforms and programs“. In fact, several ongoing projects could be adversely affected by this suspension these include projects to modernize cities by building roads, training young people in technical trades, extending fiber optics to neighboring countries and the eGabon project to digitize the Gabonese administration.
